Editing Malay Peninsula (section)

== Etymology ==
The Malay term ''Tanah Melayu'' is derived from the word ''Tanah'' (land) and ''Melayu'' ([[Malays (ethnic group)|Malays]]), thus it means "the Malay land". The term can be found in various Malay texts, of which the oldest dating back to the early 17th century. It is frequently mentioned in the ''[[Hikayat Hang Tuah]]'', a well-known classic tale associated with the legendary heroes of [[Malacca Sultanate]]. ''Tanah Melayu'' in the text is consistently employed to refer to the area under Malaccan dominance.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Reid |first=Anthony |title=Imperial alchemy : nationalism and political identity in Southeast Asia |url=https://archive.org/details/imperialalchemyn00reid |url-access=limited |publisher=Cambridge University Press |year=2010 |isbn=978-0-521-87237-9 |page=[https://archive.org/details/imperialalchemyn00reid/page/n110 95] |author-link=Anthony Reid (academic)}}</ref> In the [[Nagarakretagama|''Negarakertagama'']] manuscript written in 1365, this area is called ''Hujung Medini''.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Pigeaud |first=Theodoor Gautier Thomas |title=Java in the 14th Century: A Study in Cultural History, Volume IV: Commentaries and Recapitulations |publisher=The Hague: Martinus Nijhoff |year=1962 |isbn=978-94-017-7133-7 |edition=3rd |location=}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Nugroho |first=Irawan Djoko |title=, Meluruskan Sejarah Majapahit, |publisher=Ragam Media |year=2009}}</ref>

In the early 16th century, [[Tomé Pires]], a Portuguese [[apothecary]] who stayed in [[Portuguese Malacca|Malacca]] from 1512 to 1515, uses an almost identical term, ''Terra de Tana Malaio'', with which he referred to the southeastern part of Sumatra, where the deposed sultan of Malacca, [[Mahmud Shah of Malacca|Mahmud Shah]], established his exiled government. The 17th century's account of Portuguese historian, [[Emanuel Godinho de Erédia]], noted on the region of ''Malaios'' surrounded by the [[Andaman Sea]] in the north, the entire [[Strait of Malacca]] in the centre, a part of [[Sunda Strait]] in the south, and the western part of [[South China Sea]] in the east.<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.scribd.com/doc/82001895 |title=Asal Usul Orang Melayu: Menulis Semula Sejarahnya (The Malay Origin: Rewrite Its History) |last=Mohamed Anwar Omar Din |year=2011 |publisher=Jurnal Melayu, [[Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia]] |pages=28–30 |access-date=4 June 2012}}</ref>

Prior to the foundation of Malacca, ancient and medieval references to a Malay peninsula exist in various foreign sources. According to several Indian and Western scholars, the word ''[[Malayadvipa]]'' ("mountain-insular continent"), mentioned in the ancient Indian text, ''[[Vayu Purana]]'', may possibly refer to the Malay Peninsula.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Pande |first=Govind Chandra |title=India's Interaction with Southeast Asia: History of Science,Philosophy and Culture in Indian Civilization, Vol. 1, Part 3 |publisher=Munshiram Manoharlal |year=2005 |isbn=978-81-87586-24-1 |page=266 |author-link=Govind Chandra Pande}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Mukerjee |first=Radhakamal |title=The culture and art of India |url=https://archive.org/details/cultureartindia00muke |url-access=limited |publisher=Coronet Books Inc |year=1984 |isbn=978-81-215-0114-9 |page=[https://archive.org/details/cultureartindia00muke/page/n211 212] |author-link=Radhakamal Mukerjee}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Sarkar |first=Himansu Bhusan |title=Some contributions of India to the ancient civilisation of Indonesia and Malaysia |publisher=Punthi Pustak |year=1970 |location=Calcutta |page=8 |asin=B000PFNF5C}}</ref><ref>Gerini, G. E. (1909). [https://books.google.com.my/books?id=FKYcAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA81#v=onepage&q&f=false Researches on Ptolemy's geography of Eastern Asia (further India and Indo-Malay Archipelago]) (Vol. 1, Asiatic Society monographs). Royal Asiatic Society; Royal Geographical Society</ref> Another Indian source, an inscription on the south wall of the [[Brihadeeswarar Temple]], recorded the word ''Malaiur'', referring to a kingdom in the Malay Peninsula that had "a strong mountain for its rampart".<ref>{{Cite book |last=Langer |first=William Leonard |title=An Encyclopedia of World History: Ancient, Medieval, and Modern, Chronologically Arranged |publisher=Houghton Mifflin Co |year=1973 |isbn=978-0-395-13592-1 |page=[https://archive.org/details/encyclopediaworl00will/page/362 362] |author-link=William L. Langer}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last1=Kotha |first1=Satchidananda Murthy |title=Life, thought, and culture in India, c. AD 300-1000 |last2=S. |first2=Sankaranarayanan |publisher=Centre for Studies in Civilizations |year=2002 |isbn=978-81-87586-09-8 |page=121 |author-link1=Kotha Satchidanda Murthy}}</ref> [[Ptolemy]]'s ''[[Geographia (Ptolemy)|Geographia]]'' named a geographical region of the ''[[Golden Chersonese]]'' as ''Maleu-kolon'', a term thought to derive from Sanskrit ''malayakolam'' or ''malaikurram''.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Gerini |first=Gerolamo Emilio |title=Researches on Ptolemy's geography of eastern Asia (further India and Indo-Malay archipelago) |publisher=Oriental Books Reprint Corporation |year=1974 |isbn=81-7069-036-6 |page=101 |author-link=Gerolamo Emilio Gerini}}</ref> [[Tabula Rogeriana]] completed by an Arab geographer [[Muhammad al-Idrisi]], reflects the Malay peninsula as a long island and called it Malai, bordering the Qmer ([[Khmer Empire|Khmer]]) and lying 12 days sail from Sanf ([[Champa]]).<ref>[https://www.sg/sgbicentennial/the-bicentennial-experience/map/al-idrisis-a-guide-to-pleasant-journeys-into-faraway-lands/ al-Idrisi’s A guide to Pleasant Journeys into Faraway Lands]. Singapore Bicentennial Office. November 2019.</ref><ref>Tibbetts, G. (2025). Study of the Arabic Texts Containing Material on South-East Asia. Netherlands: Brill.</ref> While the Chinese chronicle of the [[Yuan dynasty]] mentioned the word ''Ma-li-yu-er'', referring to a nation of the Malay Peninsula that was threatened by the southward expansion of the [[Sukhothai Kingdom]] under King [[Ram Khamhaeng]].<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.guoxue.com/shibu/24shi/yuanshi/yuas_210.htm |title=Chronicle of Mongol Yuan |last=Guoxue |year=2003}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Hall |first=Daniel George Edward |title=History of South East Asia |publisher=Macmillan |year=1981 |isbn=978-0-333-24163-9 |page=190 |author-link=D.G.E. Hall}}</ref> During the same era, [[Marco Polo]] made a reference to ''Malauir'' in his [[The Travels of Marco Polo|travelogue]], as a kingdom located in the Malay Peninsula, possibly similar to the one mentioned in the Yuan chronicle.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Cordier |first=Henri |title=Ser Marco Polo; notes and addenda to Sir Henry Yule's edition, containing the results of recent research and discovery |publisher=Bibliolife |year=2009 |isbn=978-1-110-77685-6 |page=105 |author-link=Henri Cordier}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Wright |first=Thomas |title=The travels of Marco Polo, the Venetian: the translation of Marsden revised, with a selection of his notes |publisher=Kessinger Publishing, LLC |year=2004 |isbn=978-1-4191-8573-1 |pages=364–365}}</ref> The Malay Peninsula was conflated with [[Persia]] in old Japan, and was known by the same name.<ref>Ziro Uraki, Utsuho Monogatari footnotes, p. 2</ref>

In the early 20th century, the term ''Tanah Melayu'' was generally used by the Malays of the peninsula during the rise of [[Early Malay nationalism|Malay nationalism]] to describe uniting all [[Peninsular Malaysia|Malay states]] on the peninsula under one Malay nation, and this ambition was largely realised with the formation of ''Persekutuan Tanah Melayu'' ([[Malay language|Malay]] for "[[Federation of Malaya]]") in 1948.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Bunnell |first=Tim |year=2004 |title=From nation to networks and back again: Transnationalism, class and national identity in Malaysia |journal=State/Nation/Transnation: Perspectives on Transnationalism in the Asia Pacific |publisher=Routledge |pages=1984 |isbn=0-415-30279-X}}</ref>